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Bears head coach Lovie Smith will be the first black coach in Super Bowl history.
CHICAGO — Lovie Smith doesn’t say much. Doesn’t have to, really. He leads by example, figuring if he does the right thing, good things are bound to follow.
Leading the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl is more than just good, though. It’s historic, and it’s about time.
With a 39-14 pummeling of the New Orleans Saints, the Bears not only gave their coach an all-expense-paid trip to Miami. They made him the first black coach to take a team to the NFL’s biggest stage, a milestone that will be felt throughout the league and beyond.
“I hope for a day when it is unnoticed,” Smith said before the game. “But that day isn’t here.”
It wasn’t all that long ago that the NFL’s best jobs were off-limits to blacks. Never mind that three-quarters of the league’s rosters were filled with black players. Or that there were qualified black assistants galore. When the time came to hire a new coach, they were passed over, time and again.
In the last two decades, there’s been some progress. Slowly, but it’s come. Art Shell, Dennis Green, Dungy — they all paved the way for Smith. And Smith knows well the debt he owes. Not simply to them, but to black men everywhere.
When the Bears take the field in Miami on Feb. 4, men of color who dream of being center stage at America’s biggest sporting spectacle will see that the door is, indeed, open.
“Being the first black coach to lead this team, of course our players knew about it and they wanted to help us make history,” Smith said afterward. “So I feel blessed to be in that position.
“I’ll feel even better to be the first black coach to hold up the world championship trophy.”
Smith has never been the type to rail at injustices or gripe about being treated unfairly. Not that he didn’t have occasion, because he did.
He was raised in Big Sandy, Texas, a tiny farming community about halfway between Dallas and Shreveport, La. His father was an alcoholic and money was tight, and Smith was forced to grow up maybe a little faster than a boy should.
He paid his dues as a young coach — and then some: Tulsa, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Tampa Bay, Saint Louis. Those were only a few of the stops he made in the 20-year odyssey it took to become a head coach.
Did he deserve a shot before the Bears hired him in January 2004? Certainly. But you will never hear him say that. Ask him about his childhood, and he’ll tell you about the values he learned, how so much more can be accomplished when those above you reach down to lend a helping hand.
Ask about his circuitous route to the Bears job, and he’ll tell you he’s in the right place at the right time.
“Anytime you’re the first person to do anything, regardless of race or anything like that, it’s special. I’m definitely happy for him,” running back Thomas Jones said.